The Sit X bike

The Sit X Bike

The ultimate SIT X bike set up.

I know some of you are ready for the Sit X, But is your bike?
I have been riding bikes since I was about 6 but the best bike i have
ever ridden has to be the simple singlespeed.

Low maintenance and easy to fix yourself.

We wont go into the frame here but a frame with horizontal dropouts is your best bet.
Sure you could go out and buy a fully built up singlespeed for about 300 quid but please dont,
I urge you to hunt down a frame and build it from scratch, Know your bike....

If you buy a fully built singlespeed it will have poor component choices that will undoubtably fail.

You'll see why with the points below.

Strong bars and stem.
A good strong stubby stem like the easton vice paired up with the easton monkeybar,
You wont go wrong with this setup.
The last bar and stem combo I was running was an X-Lite DHR-50 stem and X-lite G-Force bars,
Which I still have after 8 years of abuse.

Headlock
I always run a headlock, It clamps the whole lot in one go straight through the headstock.

V-Brakes
Lighter than discs and you can probably find a set in a sit x, Allthough if you get a good pair
like my 98 XTR's they should last you a fair while, Mine are still running.

Rigid forks
No namby pamby suspension here, and there wont be in a sit x, A good pair of chromolly forks
will do the job when it gets rough.

Strong wheels
Hunt down a pair of mavic D521's with quality hubs, The wheels I still run are about 10 years old,
Hubs to go for, Anything by syncros or DMR.

Good Crank
A raceface Turbine, Get one.
I have had some problems with them coming loose, But thats just the crank bolts and has nothing to do
with the sheer strength and quality of these cranks, A good Bottom Bracket is also a must, You can run
a UN52 for about 8 years with no hassle.

Singlespeed rear hub
I run a DMR revolver and its pretty much nuke proof, Its also about 8 years old.

Horizontal Dropouts
Pretty much says it all, A frame with horizontal dropouts will give you total wheel alignment if used
in conjunction with some good chain tensioners and wont budge a millimeter

Misc stuff.
An 18 tooth freewheel for your rear singlespeed hub will be perfect when used with a 36 tooth middleburn front chainring,
Just be sure to get a good spacer kit with the freewheel, and also get a bmx chain

The other parts
seat, Bontrager do some good seats.
Headsets, Chris king or FSA orbit XLII, you wont go wrong with either.
Seatpost? If you cant find the right size, get a good quality smaller diameter one and buy a shim.

Pedals, DMR V8's or V12's

Tyres
Some good quality knobblies like panaracer or michelin, or even nokian gazzallodis.

Any questions please ask, thank you.




[edit on 19-9-2008 by Dar Kuma]

Sorry, but I disagree to a point with an all rigid bike. First off, the suspension, having a bike with even just front suspension will reduce the rough ride if you have to go x-country. You dont need to spend $1000.00 bucks or more on a decent bike, although in my experience it really pays off in the end. I have a Raleigh full suspesion bike that cost no more than $600 bucks, and Iwill have it modified it just a bit, but I will get to that later. having a bike with just suspension forks is more than enough. As for brakes, I hate v-brakes because for one..... if you have to go through water or mud holes, v-brakes are useless, they get clogged with mud or twigs and the pads wear down that much quicker meaning you have to replace them more often. Second, say you hit a tree stump, rock or any other obstacle trying to escape, your rims will be bent out of shape. With v-brakes if you try to stop, good luck, it will take more time to stop. The disk brakes are in the centre of the wheel so you can still have the ability to stop in a hurry if you need to. With disk brakes, there is no comparison, the stopping power is incredible and if you have to go through water (if the water level is between the rims and the disk brakes) your disk brakes will have enough clearance to get through. You can get your choice of either cable-actuated disk brakes or hydraulic disk brakes, both are great but the one point that I dont like about cable disk brakes is the cables will eventually stretch and snap apart, and if your going down a hill and the cables break... lol, I hope you can fly cause you wont stop until you fall off your bike or hit something. But go to any bike dealership and ask questions, there are a lot of options for pretty much any bike out there, but dont say that an all rigid bike is the only bike you should think of getting. Honestly, I had that very same attitude towards front and full suspension bikes when I first got into mountain biking. I saved my money for almost 4 months, and then went to several bike shops, asked questions till I was blue in the face, took a few on some test runs until I found the best bike for me. And what ever bike you buy, get a list of all replacement parts for your bike, buy 2 or 3 small parts every payday, like replacement brake pads, an extra chain, chain oil, brake cables if your running v-rakes. I do recommend to buy a spare tire, tube, chain oil, tire patch kit and a tire pump as soon as possible, believe me, you will be glad you did.

So What happens when you get a flat?
Would we ride around on our mavic D521's...?

I have actually owned 2 full suspension bikes and a host of front suspension bikes.

The last pair of front suspension forks I had broke, Not very good in a sit x eh?
They were rock shox....

As for wheels, believe me when I say you wont buckle a mavic D521 by hitting a tree stump, its gonna take more than that.

As for discs, What do you plan on doing when they need a service or they break in a sit x....?

Your debate is weak sorry...

nobody, you fix it with a puncture repair kit, obviously....

I don't think that you need to build a bike from scratch... Beyond that, I don't think I'd even be ABLE to buy individual components and put together my own custom bike.

I've got a basic $100 mountain bike that I bought from Wal-Mart and it's been going strong for at least 4 or 5 years now. I don't ride it every day or anything, but it's been through quite a bit of wear and tear. Off-road gravel paths, jumping curbs, and 6-hour rides on occasion.

Front wheel suspension is definately worth it in my opinion. Pretty much any mountain bike comes with it nowadays anyway. Back suspension not so much, it looks like it would be prone to break to me... then again I've never had a bike with back suspension, only front.

Pack at least 2-3 patch kits (And know how to use it ahead of time), a portable hand pump for tires (with extra adapter nozzle things to fit into the wheels... those always seem to go missing.) One of those screwdrivers with changable bits where the bits are stored on the screwdriver itself would also be handy and portable.

I'll admit I've never patched a tire and I'm not entirely sure how, except that to check for leaks you have to put the tube underwater and look for bubbles.

I would probably also recommend or want a gel seat, just because I don't have one myself, and (too much information ahead) it actually hurts to pee after I've been biking off-road for 6 or more hours straight with a regular seat.

You dont really need a bucket of water, I have fixed a puncture without before, Just pump the inner tube up and go round it slowly with your hand about a centimeter away from the tube to feel the air coming out.

As for tools, Use a crank bros.
I can strip my bike with that tool and put it back together.

Front suspension on a $100 bike isnt going to cut it really for going cross country, But still, most high end suspension fork legs are made of magnesium these days which is weaker.

Hence why I said cro-mo forks, they are not going to break if you get a good set, The ones on my bike came off a trek bruiser and they have done 10 foot jumps and 6 foot drop offs.

But I think some of you are still missing the point, In a sit x if you have suspension forks and they break, what are you going to do?

If you have disc brakes on your bike and they break, what are you going to do?


[edit on 20-9-2008 by Dar Kuma]

Lol, if your v-brakes are shot, and you have no more spares, what if you have no more cables for your brakes, what do you do? Same question for the v-brakes can be asked.

well, If my V-brakes are shot, Lets say both pairs to make it more awkward eh.

Then there is more than likely going to be a bike somewhere which has V-brakes...

Now I will follow up with a disc brake scenario, I have a disc brake, It is shot but what do I do, My bike doesn't have V-brake bosses cause it was made without them.

I need spares for my disc brake but cant find any, I try and strip it off only to find there are special bolts holding the disc in place....I find another bike for spares, I strip off the front forks of my bike and replace them with some rigids and V-brakes and off I go leaving the fancy suspension forks and disc as its useless.

[edit on 20-9-2008 by Dar Kuma]

Lmao, it sounds to me that all your riding is done in the city or town where you live. You obviously haven't done any trail riding. Sorry, but your bike wont take the punishment.

Have you seen my bike, There is a link to it in my OP.

Its very capable of trail riding, Its very capable of trials too since it is a Trials specific frame.
Diamondback T10
It can take some abuse.
I used to live in the forest of dean.
Trails galore up there....




[edit on 20-9-2008 by Dar Kuma]

Guys, guys chill the fck out here, this is one good example of a SITX bike, not the THE definitive one.
It is minimalist and needs less user maintenance and bs for keeping a 'superior' bike in good nick.

I know Dar Kuma and he is a guru on the biking scene, hell he's got the broken bones to prove he can rough it on the trail and offroad.

I think not having front suspension / disc brakes etc is a bone-shaker and not nice, BUT it's what someone who doesn't want to waste energy and resources on buzzing after it when it brakes.
So there is wisdom in what he says.

Disc brakes are cool, no doubt about it, but they are a bstard for interchangability in SITX so DK has a point.

Look, ANY bike is better than none, but something like Dars is fairly good for long term use and work.
Something like mine (which I will post later) is more short to medium term).
Someone with the most advanced groovetronic bike going probably is excellent until damage / breakage occurs. So it's all relative.

1* for DK

[edit on 20-9-2008 by WatchRider]

Looks to be a good set-up Dar Kuma; thanks for the info and your input.

Couple of months ago, we ordered a heavy-duty trike. Front disc brakes, but also has a coaster brake, with sealed 3-speed hub. We've acquired some spare parts for repairs, and thanks to your thread, I'll snag a v-brake assembly just in case. I like the stability of the trikes, and this particular one has a carry load capacity of 4-500 lbs. For our situation (islanders, not bugging out) it presents a good cross-section of our needs. Even has an opitional rechargeable motor. We didn't order the motor, even though it could be recharged with our solar cells.

What's your thoughts on alloy wheels/ SS spokes? I hope we haven't made an error in choosing that option. Here in the salt environment, even with maintenance, I rarely see a wheel/spokes that aren't rusted. Interested to know what you think about alloys.

Cheers

Alloy rims are excellent,Allthough it all comes down to what make you have ordered, A little bit more input would be welcome.

The two main makes for the rims would be mavic undoubtably or sun rims, preferably a set of double walls for added strength.

As for spokes always go for double butted.

Hey DK thats a damn good bike you have there

You've nailed all of the weak points for a bike in a sitX, in my expierience its better to build your own bike rather than waste money on a shop bought and assembled one...they're never built to last and I've learned that lesson time and time again.

Personally I'd have to go for front suspension, when doing jumps and drop offs the shock without suspension would go right through my wrists and make them sore for days after so I've learned that lesson too.

I'm just wondering what your gear tension is...what speed would your bike be on say a 21 gear system? My single gear at the minute is very slack I think its lost some of the tension the more I've rode it.

Thanks for posting a pic of the Crank Bos....Its the first time I've seen one and it looks like the bees knees for flexibility I'll be investing in one of those.

Good thread mate! Would you be able to post a few recommendations for front suspension? I was thinking of rox shox or marzocchi bomber since there both very good makes....whats your thoughts?

I was a bicyclist for years but am limited to short pleasure rides on rare occasions these days. I have numerous bikes and quite a few tools and parts from back in the 90s when I was in the business. My monster bike that would be the one to see me through is an old cantilever frame beach cruiser with 48 spoke wheels 182MM single piece BMX cranks sealed bottom bracket bearings 36T chain ring and 14T rear sprocket on a coaster brake. It isn't going to get me anywhere in a hurry but with huge front and rear baskets I can move a lot of stuff with less effort than carrying it on my messed up old back. I like your less is more philosophy. I rode to and from work on a single speed bike with tall gearing when in my 40s. It was only 26 miles round trip but on unpaved roads for 9 of them and steep hills coming and going in all weather. Bicycles of any kind are engineering wonders.

Hi Fred, and thanks

I'm not sure what you mean in gear tension?
But no, I got out of buying gears 10 years ago and never looked back,I had a GT Zaskar LE which was XTR equipped and weighed in at around 23.5 pounds.
I stripped it down and sold it all off as The gears kept fouling up, It took me about 4 months looking for a decent frame, Something that was going to last so I bought a Spooky Metalhead which is now hanging on my wall.

Bit of fishing here, If you mean the gear ratio, On the singlespeed I used to run a 16 rear freewheel with a 42 tooth raceface ring up front, I had to change the front down to a 36 on the diamondback as the stays stuck out more.

A good ratio for a 21 speed i spose would be around 24 : 34 : 42

MMM, Suspension forks, This is what happened to my rock shox.



With that being said I have owned a pair of rockshox Judy XL which were fantastic, If your going to buy a set of forks though go for a fork that has a bolt through hub .
Or you'll probably end up with a busted hand .

One last thing, If I was going to buy another set of suspension forks I would spend near 300 quid on a set, The cheap ones are'nt worth bothering with.

Nice to see you fred.

[edit on 20-9-2008 by Dar Kuma]

I just found this after weeks of hunting a better carrying system.
Very tempted to buy and road/track test this.


2x 60L waterproof bags alongside a single wheel carrier.
Pick the same size wheel as your bike and get a spare front wheel in case of arguments with rocks/trees etc.

[edit on 22-9-2008 by AGENT_T]

Keeping the lore flowin' with my addition to the SITX biking groove

This is mine, a semi-rugged, scoutin' and movin' kinda bike.



The Groove



Ok, its got the flashy disc brakes, you want to brake? You brake on a six-pence



Lock-out suspension for rigid road and offroad suspension for on the trails etc. It's Rock shock a go-go!



Mineral oil buzzball braking system, sealed and maint-free man.



Bike lock, tiny-style pump with both valve type interface

Not in the groove:



The shimano gear flare means there is about 4 inches of clearance at the rear end so in a jam it might 'ground out' and literally cause 'chain lock' which means you go flying! This isn't major though.



Fairly complex gearing system in case of failure. 27 gears - 9 cog back, 3 cog front.

Getting back in the groove

This baby is dry lube and means it keeps the bikes chain mech going while meaning less mess on your pants



A comfortable seat for your ass is a must, especially if you're carrying a load of gear on your back:

I went for the 'razorblade on wheels'

I'm sure an xray will show the saddle is STILL attached where the sun doesn't shine after my test ride..

Was packing about 10kg in that minibob though. So transferring weight to a trailer will improve matters.
The drag from the Nobblies was pretty severe,road tyres recommended where possible.

Lots of 'moving/breakable parts' I know..so will see how it goes over next few weeks.

[edit on 22-9-2008 by AGENT_T]